Actorsâ€™ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, together with presenting sponsor, The Childrenâ€™s Trust, announce the third annual launch of Young Talent Big Dreams, the most widespread local youth talent contest in Miami-Dade. Kids between the ages of 8-17 will compete for prizes ranging from performing arts scholarships, master classes with industry professionals, and cash awards to tickets to local attractions and theatres. County-wide competition begins in November, with auditions at five local theatres, and concludes with the semifinals and finals in April 2013. The contest will feature a total of five individual categories including; voice, dance, musical instrument, original spoken word and original vocal and/or instrumental composition, and group categories of six or less members including; dance, instrumental and rock/pop/jazz bands with vocals. Participation is free of charge and limited to residents of Miami-Dade County.

Seven preliminary auditions will take place in diverse locations throughout Miami-Dade, including the Miracle Theatre, South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, Paul W. Bell Middle School, and the Little Haiti Cultural Center. The semifinals and finals with will be held in April 2013 at the Miracle Theatre in front of a live audience! Participants may compete in one individual and one group category only, and those who pre-register will be given priority audition times.

"We are very proud of the opportunity to work with The Childrenâ€™s Trust for the third year to make this exciting and important opportunity available to the talented young artists in our community," said Actors’ Playhouse Executive Producing Director Barbara S. Stein.

Young Talent Big Dreams is modeled after the many reality TV talent shows that have gained in popularity in recent years. Judges will include a host of local celebrities and professionals from the performing arts community. Each act will be allotted up to one minute during their preliminary audition performance, and two minutes for the semifinal and final round performance. Two contestants or more in each performance category from each preliminary audition location may be invited to compete in the semifinals and up to three contestants in each category in the semifinals will move on to compete in the finals. There will be a maximum of eight winners and one grand-prize winner chosen during the finals.

"During the past couple of years, it not only been inspiring to see so many talented kids come forward to participate, but to learn about how many of them have been inspired by the competition to seek additional training or opportunities in their art," said Modesto Abety-Gutierrez, President and CEO of The Children’s Trust. "We’ve also been able to connect some of the children in Young Talent Big Dreams to programs they never even knew about, and that’s a wonderful outcome as well."